SALEM, Ore. — The Oregon National Guard pulled off a rare double rescue in a single mission on Thursday near Mount Jefferson, swooping in to pick up two people who had separately become stranded in the same general area.
After a hiker was reported missing and stranded in intense snow, a team of four prepared to leave in an HH-60M Blackhawk Helicopter meant for medical response.
"Flight ops had received a call from Marion County Sheriff that a hiker had gotten lost on Wednesday evening," said Crew Chief Kezia Downing.
But as the crew headed out to the flight line at the Oregon National Guard base in Salem, Downing got word about another person who was stranded.
"We got another phone call that there was a lost cyclist in the same vicinity," she said.
The cyclist was also stranded near Mount Jefferson, but the phone call actually came from the other side of the planet. The man was from Australia, and the Marion County Sheriff's Office said he had only managed to send off a text to his dad in back home before his cell phone died.
His father called the Australian consulate, who then contacted the Marion County Sheriff's Office. Fortunately, the cyclist was able to shelter is a snow cabin near Hawk Mountain.
Suddenly, Downing and her team were headed out to rescue two different people in two different locations — during the same flight.
"We go out and help people on their worst day in a dangerous situation, doing something very technically difficult ourselves," Downing said.
As the crew chief, Downing operates the hoist, which sends a medic down from the chopper on a small chair. Then she hoists both the medic and the patient back up into the aircraft.
"I will admit, those were two of my best hoists ever," she said.
The team rescued both the hiker and the cyclist, flying them to the Detroit Lake Ranger Station.
"It was just a hair above freezing out there and they were certainly chilly when they got on the aircraft," Downing said.
Downing said she's grateful for her tight-knit team, adding that they have to work cohesively because of the danger in what they do.
"This really is a group effort. The back seaters can't go help anyone without pilots who are trained and good at what they’re doing," she said. "The front seaters can't run the hoist from up there."